Posted here:
Monteverdi, “Magnificat”
From the composer’s Vespers (1610).
— posted by Roger W. Smith
Monteverdi, “Magnificat”
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Category Archives: my favorite music
Charles Ives, “In the Mornin’ (Give Me Jesus)”
Charles Ives, “In the Mornin’ (Give Me Jesus)”
“Give Me Jesus”
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
Give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.
When I am alone,
When I am alone,
When I am alone,
Give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.
When I come to die,
When I come to die,
When I come to die,
Give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.
— posted by Roger W. Smith
December 2016
Edvard Grieg, “Til våren” (To spring), op. 43, no. 6
Edvard Grieg, “Til våren” (To spring), op. 43, no. 6
From the composer’s Lyriske stykker (Lyric Pieces).
— posted by Roger W. Smith
October 2016
“By the Mark”
“By the Mark”
Speaking of religion …
I find that there is something very spiritual about Gillian Welch’s song “By The Mark”
on YouTube, at
I shared this song with a relative a while ago. He has good and wide ranging musical tastes — in short, musical discernment.
He knows me intimately, but he asked me, “are you religious?”
I answered, “No, not particularly. But I respect people who are.”
— posted by Roger W. Smith
November 2016
Antonio Vivaldi, “Gloria”
Antonio Vivaldi, “Gloria”
— posted by Roger W. Smith
November 2016
“Religion” (an essay by Roger W. Smith)
‘religion; an essay by Roger W. Smith’
“… the true religious genius of our race now seems to say, Beware of Churches! Beware of priests! above all things the flights and sublime ecstasies of the soul cannot submit to the exact statements of any church, or of any creed.”
— Walt Whitman, Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts (New York University Press, 1984), I:408
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Who cares what I think about the topic of religion, one might ask.
It has probably — I would say, certainly — been written and declaimed about far more than any other conceivable topic over the ages, far surpassing topics such as politics.
By the greatest writers the world has ever seen.
But I was thinking about religion the other day because of a conversation I had with a friend of mine. It made me think also of similar conversations I’ve had in the past.
My friend is a professional with an advanced degree. He works in one of the so called helping professions.
He is, as a result of professional training and experience and also by virtue of his nature, a thoughtful, insightful, and caring individual.
I had never had occasion to discuss religion with him before and had no knowledge or idea of what his religion was, other than suspecting that he was probably Christian. In the course of our conversation, I learned that he is Episcopalian.
I was raised as a Congregationalist and later became a Unitarian. (More about this below.)
My friend, while a church member, has a lot of reservations about Christian doctrine and about organized religion. We agreed to disagree.
To summarize, imperfectly, the points my friend made (I don’t have him with me to verify the accuracy of my summary):
— Many Christian beliefs, such as those derived from Bible stories, are patently “false,” meaning that to many an educated person in the modern world, they seem ludicrous. That would apply, for example, to a belief in the immaculate conception or that Jesus was resurrected, as well as Jesus’s miracles.
— Not only is much of religious belief based on fiction, but the historical veracity of much of what, say, is presented in narrative accounts in the Gospels cannot be verified. For example, there is very scant historical evidence for Jesus’s life and ministry. What we have been told may well have been invented and then propagated as revealed truth.
— Organized religion has done and does more harm than good. It has led to barbarity and intolerance. And, to modern day abuses. Conservative religion has become allied with right wing political factions in a way that is an anathema to liberals and progressives.
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May I be permitted a word or two about my own religious upbringing as it pertained to our discussion?
I was raised as a Congregationalist. They are “middle of the road,” I would say, on the Protestant spectrum, with the Episcopalians being more conservative, the Baptists much further to the right, and the Unitarians way to the left.
I am extremely grateful that my parents didn’t neglect my religious upbringing. From it, I got a good grounding in moral values. To give an example, I learned the importance of compassion and charity.
I developed — my parents had more to do with it than the church, but church teaching was also important — a moral sense and a CONSCIENCE.
I absorbed the basic tenets of Christian doctrine, observed the religious holidays. My family was more important than the church with respect to the latter, but church services and observances of Christmas and Easter seemed sacred and wonderful, as well as inspiring awe and reverence, a sense that they were very special as well as joyous times. (So did some religious and holiday music that I was exposed to at the time, such as hymns and Christmas carols.)
In Sunday school, which my parents saw to it that I attend without fail, I got an excellent grounding in the Bible. I know my Gospels — by no means as well as a TV or radio evangelist does — but I know the stories and sayings, when the angel of the Lord brought tidings of joy to the shepherds keeping watch over their flock; when Jesus spent forty days in the desert, was tempted by the devil, and told him, “Get thee hence, Satan”; when Jesus cast out the swine from the insane man and how they perished in the sea; the miracle of the loaves and fishes; or what Jesus said, like “blessed are the poor in spirit” and “he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.”
Many modern day kids raised in “enlightened,” “progressive” households don’t have the faintest knowledge of any of this. (A shame, I would say a disgrace.)
To learn these words and to read about the miracles when one is growing up are invaluable. They become part of you — your inner self — something you don’t question and which it seems as if you’ve always known. The words and the edifying stories are with you at trying times.
Growing up I also became well acquainted with Catholicism. The majority of my friends, in my early years, were Catholic. We argued about religion all the time. I thought they were narrow minded, borderline ignorant, incapable of thinking for themselves, too credulous, and so on – these youthful opinions were, needless, to say, prejudiced, often unfair and unfounded, on my part. But I grew over the years to appreciate and greatly admire the Catholic church. (See more below.)
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To return to my friend’s criticisms for a minute.
He spoke appreciatively of religiously inspired music; he is obviously not a know-nothing unbeliever/religious antagonist. But, basically, he thinks that Christian doctrine was and is founded on absurdities that are impossible of belief by an educated, rational person. And that, by subscribing to and perpetuating absurdities, organized religions are actually doing harm by cheapening and obfuscating civic discourse. (My friend did not actually say this. I am extrapolating from what he said and seemed to be implying.)
My take on this and my current beliefs are as follows.
I became a Unitarian when I was a preadolescent. I do not currently belong to a church. When asked, I respond that I do not belong to a church.
I am not what, in the common understanding of the term, what would be called a “believer.”
But I realize that I am fundamentally a Christian. What do I base this upon? My upbringing. My basic outlook on life. My core beliefs. My basic makeup and “spiritual genealogy,” so to speak.
I admire (which is an understatement) and completely respect religious people, from Saint Augustine to Albert Schweitzer, from Saint Francis to Dorothy Day, from Meister Eckhart to George Fox, from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Pope Francis.
Pope John XXIII.
I admire Walter J. Ciszek, S.J., the priest who endured twenty years imprisonment in the Soviet Union and hard labor in the Gulag on trumped up charges of being a “Vatican spy.”
I admire Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, who was recently installed as the archbishop of Newark, NJ.
I respect clergymen, priests, and nuns for their seriousness of purpose and devotion to their calling.
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The way in which religion affects me most profoundly is through art, in the broad sense of the word.
I defy anyone to listen to the masses of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, or Schubert; to Monteverdi’s “Magnificat”; to Vivaldi’s “Gloria” or Stabat Mater or Antonín Dvořák’s Stabat Mater; to an oratorio such as the Saint Matthew Passion or Berlioz’s l’enfance du Christ; or to two modern compositions, Alan Hovhaness’s “Ave Maria” and Vladimír Godár’s “Regina Coeli,” and remain unmoved.
To Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross, one the most devout pieces ever composed.
Try listening to a hymn such as “Fairest Lord Jesus” — with its beauty, clarity, strength, and simple piety — and remaining unmoved.
Or “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” with its ringing, joyous affirmation of Christian belief.
I know the Latin mass by heart. When words such as Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorifcamus te … Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi; dona nobis pacem … Crucifìxus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato; passus et sepultus est, et resurrexit tertia die … Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini are sung, I am profoundly stirred. At such a moment, I feel the “truth” of Biblical events. I don’t go into a religious frenzy or temporarily lose my mind, but I do at such moments experience religion at a gut level, viscerally. I am not looking askance and thinking to myself. “This is, at bottom, silly; it can’t really be believed.” On the contrary, through the medium of sublime art, I have become a believer — for the moment, at least — insofar as it’s possible (for myself, that is).
I also experienced this when I saw Pier Paolo Pasolini’s film The Gospel According to Matthew (1964). The film is so powerful and convincing, the Gospel stories become so credible, that one is totally engrossed and in the moment; one suspends disbelief.
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A penultimate thought or two. I don’t want to leave the impression that my respect and admiration for religion are solely the impressions of an aesthete. That’s a big part of it, but there’s more, I realize.
It seems to me that religion is a core part of what it is to be human, though many of my friends and relatives would probably dismiss this as representing a sort of atavism. It must feed basic human needs. The need for belief in something beyond mundane existence, as we observe it. But, I don’t think this is just a matter of “emotional neediness” by weak minded people who need a crutch. Sort of the way Noam Chomsky has shown that there is a universal grammar that is innate to the human brain, I think something similar can be said about religion as it transcends all types of cultural and social boundaries and affects all of us.
I think that religion is important because it humbles us. We need to believe and to be able to conceive of something greater than our puny selves, something that inspires awe and reverence. Perhaps that’s enough to say. I am not a preacher and don’t want to be seen as coming across as one. But, I do think that religions play an important psychological function, or more broadly, an edifying one, when we attempt to conceive of the glory of God and His creation.
A lot of my contemporaries seem to think that they are self sufficient in their ability to reason and thereby to deduce their own truths (the absolute rightness of which they are convinced of) and that they don’t need a “crutch.” I find them smug. They would say they need no god or gods. They are too proud, in my opinion, too sure of themselves. They would do well to read what the great religious thinkers have to say.
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A relative of mine recently posted a comment on this blog. It had to do with a post of mine, not about religion, in which post I wrote that people should be more “Christian” when it comes to judgment and forgiveness.
“I am inclined to side with the [sentencing] judge,” my relative wrote. “This is an example, among many others, of why I am essentially non-religious. I consider established religion to be one of the most divisive, most antagonistic influences in human affairs and history.”
My relative’s view seems to be shared by many. It is hard to argue with him in view of contemporary church scandals and abuses; ones from historical periods not that remote; and examples from history such as the Crusades and the Inquisition.
But I still respect religion, without reservation. I try to follow the essential precepts and teachings of Christianity, although I do not belong any longer to a church or subscribe to a particular faith.
— Roger W. Smith
January 2017
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Addendum:
I picked out a piece of sacred music more or less at random from the Agnus Dei (lamb of God) section of Haydn’s Nelson Mass: qui tollis peccata mundi (You who take away the sins of the world). There are, of course, many other splendid examples.
Listen to it. Can one deny the intense spirituality? This from a master of classical form.
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Note: I have posted some splendid sacred music on this blog. Also, sacred music which I have noted above but have not posted here is available on You Tube.
Posted here:
Vivaldi, “Gloria”
Haydn, “Mass in Time of War”
Haydn, “Schöpfungsmesse” (Creation Mass)
Haydn, “Theresienmesse”
Mozart, Mass in F minor, K. 192; Dixit and Magnificat, K. 193
Mozart, Mass in F minor, K. 192; Dixit and Magnificat, K. 193
Beethoven, Mass in C major, opus 86
Schubert, mass no. 6 in E flat
Berlioz, “l’Enfance du Christ”
A couple of sections from Monteverdi’s “Magnificat” of 1610:
The final chorus from Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion
“Fairest Lord Jesus”
“Fairest Lord Jesus” is also on YouTube at
(rendered with sensitivity by a children’s choir)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW5bkIUQqZc
(beautiful piano version)
Available on YouTube:
Vivaldi’s “Stabat Mater,” performed by the Academy of Ancient Music, directed by Christopher Hogwood, with countertenor James Bowman
Dvořák’s “Stabat Mater” (beginning)
Alan Hovhaness’s “Ave Maria”
Charles Ives, ‘in the Mornin’ (Give Me Jesus)”
Gillian Welch’s simple, intensely spiritual song “By the Mark” is at
“Christ the Lord Is Risen Today”
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See also: additional religious music which has posted by me on this site at
summary of classical music on this blog
The music I have posted here is from old LP’s of mine. There is some rare and wonderful music (among my all time favorites).
BARTÓK
Folk music for voice and piano: eight Hungarian folksongs (The music is simply stunning and the performance by a Hungarian singer and pianist superb. You never heard anything quite like it.)
BEETHOVEN
Late Quartets (By The Hungarian Quarter I have never liked another performance as much.)
Mass in C major (A friend gave me this LP as a gift. I like this mass as much if not more than the “Missa Solemnis.”)
Moonlight, Appassionata and Pathétique sonatas (played beautifully on this LP with great restraint)
ALBAN BERG
“Lyric Suite” by Berg and some other pieces by Anton Webern
BERLIOZ
l’Enfance du Christ” (Oratorio; I love the piece and this performance. There is a wonderful soprano on this recording.)
FRANCESCO BISCOGLI
Concerto for trumpet, oboe, bassoon with two violins and basso continuo in D major (attributed to Biscogli)
CAMPION, DOWLAND, AND MORLEY (Elizabethan composers; this was an LP that was part of scholarly musical research and reconstruction. It consists of music for lute and voice by Thomas Campion, John Dowland, and Thomas Morley, composers of Shakespeare’s time. Beautiful, plaintive music.)
DVOŘÁK
Quartet #6 (“American”)
IRVING FINE (my father’s music professor)
Symphony (1962; an arresting piece. A premier performance of this work at Tanglewood, given less than two weeks before Fine’s death in his forties from a heart attack. Fine conducted the premiere.)
GEORGIAN CHANT (on four LP’s)
HANDEL
“Acis and Galatea”
“Alexander’s Feast” (a Handel work based on a poem of Dryden)
“L’Allegro ed il Penseroso” (A splendid performance of Handel’s enchanting setting of Milton’s poem. Does not include “il Moderato.”)
“Birthday Anthem for Queen Anne”
“Hercules”
“Israel in Egypt”
“Judas Maccabeus”
“Ode to the Foundling Hospital” (heart rending)
“Orlando”
“Samson” (a splendid work, right up there with “Messiah”)
“Semele”
“Serse”
“Sosarme” (awesome)
HAYDN
Symphony #6 (the charming “Surmise” symphony, on a rare old mono LP)
“Mass in Time of War”
“Schöpfungmesse” (Creation Mass)
“Teresienmesse”
(The late Hayden masses are nonpareil works.)
ALAN HOVHANESS
liturgical music on a single LP (Ave Maria, Easter Ode, etc.; haunting)
CHARLES IVES
Music for chorus. (“The Circus Band” alone is worth it, and there is some other good stuff — a Salvation Army hymn, “Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb?” for instance.)
GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT
La Messe de Nosrte Dame (It was a revelation to me on first hearing; work very old yet seemingly somewhat “modern.”)
MOZART
“Mass in F Major, k. 192 (a “sleeper”; an old recording of lesser known, charming mass)
“Complete Masonic Music.” (The music was a very pleasant surprise to me. Includes the splendid short piece “Ave Verum Corpus.”)
CARL NIELSEN
songs (I don’t understand why Nielsen is not better known. His output of songs was prolific and outstanding. There are twelve songs on this rare LP.)
“Springtime in Funen” (You’ve never heard a piece quite like “Springtime in Funen,” which is sort of a vocal piece for chorus and soloists celebrating life on a Danish island where the composer grew up.)
HENRY PURCELL
“The Fairy-Queen” (a splendid 1950’s recording of this masque/semi-opera)
“King Arthur” (a rare recording this semi-opera)
harpsichord suites (They are impressive and compelling.)
RENAISSANCE MUSIC
An LP of sacred music by Orlando di Lasso, Josquin des Prez, and Heinrich Isaac.
SCHUBERT
String quintet in C minor, op. 163
Mass #6 in E flat (a performance done with great restraint, which this beautiful setting of the mass leads itself to)
HEINRICH SCHUTZ
“Weihnachhistorie” (Christmas Story; I love the piece and the performance.)
SHOSTAKOVICH
symphony no. 11 (a rare early recording of a Shostakovich symphony that, while not neglected, deserves to be better known)
“Song of the Forests” (an arresting oratorio)
SIBELIUS
“Kullervo” (A wonderful symphonic suite with chorus based on the Finnish national epic. The last track includes some wonderful incidental music that was not composed as part of “Kullervo.”)
TCHAIKOVSKY
A capella settings for chorus by Tchaikovsky of poems (I find the music haunting; there is something incredibly pure and beautiful about the singing. Includes settings of poems by poets such as Lermontov and Pushkin.)
VIVALDI
“Juditha Triumphans” (I love this oratorio and this performance. I believe it is the only Vivaldi oratorio extant.)
“Stabat Mater”
— Roger W. Smith
July 2016
Dvořák, String Quartet in F major Op. 96 (“American”)
Dvořák, String Quartet in F major Op. 96 (“American”)
Handel, “Foundling Hospital Anthem”
Handel, “Foundling Hospital Anthem”
–posted by Roger W. Smith
Orlando Gibbons, “The Cries of London”
Orlando Gibbons, “The Cries of London”
“The Cries of London” is a kind of burlesque madrigal composed by Orlando Gibbons (1583 –1625).
God give you good morrow, my masters, past three o’clock and a fair morning.
New mussels, new lilywhite mussels.
New cockles, new great cockles,
New great sprats, new.
New great lampreys,
New great smelts, new.
New fresh herrings,
New haddock, new,
New thornback, new.
Hot apple pies, hot.
Hot pippin pies hot.
Fine pomegranates, fine.
Hot mutton pies, hot.
Buy a rope.
Ha’ ye any old bellows or trays to mend?
Rosemary and bays quick and gentle,
Ripe chestnuts, ripe.
Buy a cover for a closestool.
Ripe walnuts, ripe.
Ripe small nuts, ripe.
White cabbage, white young cabbage white.
White turnips, white young turnips, white.
White parsnips, white young parsnips, white.
White lettuce, white young lettuce white.
But any ink, will you buy any ink, very fine writing ink, will you buy any ink?
Ha’ ye any rats or mice to kill?
I have ripe peascods, ripe.
Oysters, oysters, oysters, threepence a peck at Bridewell dock, new Wallfleet oysters.
O yes! If any man or woman can tell any tidings of a grey mare with a long mane and a short tail;
she halts down right before, and is stark lame behind; and was lost the thirtieth day of February.
He that can tell any tidings of her, let him come to the Crier, and he shall have well for his hire.
Will you buy any fine tobacco?
Ripe damsons, fine ripe damsons
Hard garlic, hard,
Will you buy any aquavitae, mistress?
Buy a barrel of Samphire.
What is’t you lack? Fine wrought shirts or smocks?
Perfum’d waistcoats, fine bone lace or edgings, sweet gloves, silk garters, very fine silk garters, fine combs or glasses.
Or a poking stick with a silver handle.
Old doublets, old doublets, old doublets, old doublets, old doublets, ha’ ye any old doublets?
Ha’ ye any corns on your feet or toes?
Fine potatoes, fine.
Will you buy any starch or clear complexion, mistress?
Poor naked Bedlam, Tom’s acold, a small cut of thy bacon or a piece of thy sow’s side, good Bess, God Almighty bless thy wits.
Dame, dame, give me an egg for the worship of Good Friday, if your hens will not lay your cock must obey, with three golden staves on London bridge,
Quick periwinkles, quick, quick, quick.
Will you buy any scurvy grass?
Buy a new almanack.
Will you buy a brush, will you have any small coal?
Buy a fine washing ball.
Good, gracious people, for the Lord’s sake pity the poor women;
we lie cold and comfortless night and day on the bare boards in the dark dungeon in great misery.
Hot oatcakes, hot.
Dame, dame, give me an egg for the worship of Good Friday, if your hens will not lay your cock must obey, with three golden staves on London bridge,
And so we make an end.
Will you go with a pair of oars?
Will you go with me, sir?
I am Sir John Chimney’s man.
A good sausage, a good, and it be roasted,
go round about the capon, go round.
I am your first man, sir!
Hot puddings, hot.
New oysters, new, new plaice, new,
Will ye buy any milk or frumenty?
O yes! If any man or woman can tell any tidings of a young wench of four and forty years old?
Let him bring her to the Crier, he shall have her for his hire.
New mackrel, new.
Ha’ ye work for a tinker?
a tinker.
Old boots, old shoes, pouchrings for broom.
Will ye buy a mat for a bed?
Ha’ ye any kitchen stuff, maids?
Ha’ ye any work for a cooper?
What ends have you of gold or silver?
Ripe strawberries, ripe.
Hot spic’d cakes hot.
I ha’ ripe cowcumbers, I ha’ ripe.
Salt, salt, salt, to barge to, hard onions, hard.
Rosasolis fine.
Fresh cheese and cream.
What coneyskins have ye, maids?
Salt, salt, to barge to.
Will you buy my dish of eels?
Will you buy any Aquavitae, mistress?
Cherry ripe, apples fine, medlars fine.
Al’ a black, al’ a black, pips fine.
Will ye buy any straw?
New fresh herring at Billingsgate, four a penny, five to many
White radish, white young radish, white radish, white young radish, white.
Hot pudding pies, hot.
Bread and meat for the poor pris’ners of the Marshalsea,
for Christ Jesus’ sake, bread and meat.
Have ye any wood to cleave?
soop, chimney soop, soop, chimney soop, soop, chimney soop, misteress,
with a soop derry derry derry soop;
From the bottom to the top, soop, chimney, soop.
Then shall no soot fall in your porridge pot, with a soop derry derry derry soop.
Fine Seville oranges, fine lemons,
Twelve o’clock, look well to your lock, your fire, and your light,
and so good night.
— posted by Roger W. Smith